Independent mercenary

An independent mercenary is a mercenary who retires from a player's company after reaching level 100. Any mercenary that reaches level 100, has obtained the level 100 heroic mercenary upgrade and is below the age of 50 can become independent at the will of the player. Simply talk to Fugger near Madrid to start the independence process.

Independent mercenaries will write every day at fixed times to request items; note that the time will be pushed further when the server is down (Due to maintenance or patches). Every 6 days (6 months in-game), they will send different items to the player, up to the soul stones required to hire B-grade mercenaries. The independent mercenary will permanently retire when they reach the age of 60. Note that this forced mercenary retirement only applies to independent mercenaries; according to the game lore, mercenaries in your party are made virtually immortal due to the proximity of a descendant of Atlantica, and thus may remain in your party as long as you require their service.

The quality of the gift given by independent mercenaries every 6 days depends on the friendship with that mercenary. Friendship starts at 100, and cannot go over 100 or below 0. For every item request the player fulfills, friendship with the independent mercenary goes up by 1; for every request the player is unable or unwilling to fulfill, friendship goes down by 2.

Items requested by independent mercenaries depends on the activity in which they engage; if they are prospecting or mining, for example, they will request dynamite, machines, sulfur, oil or various food items. If they are hunting preys, they will require potions, bait, ammunition or food, while those fighting in the arena request enchanting or enhancing stones, charms, growth or potential vials or books.

Items given by mercenaries range from common crafting materials to soul stones, required for hiring B-rank mercenaries, and unobtainable any other way; the promise of soul stones is what drives most people to set mercenaries independent.

It is unknown at this time whether the mercenary's Might upon release has any effect upon gifts or requests, but current data seems to indicate it is not the case.